As WGSS enters its 50th year at Ohio State, we have much to celebrate. Thanks to decades of commitment from students, alums, faculty and staff, the department has been a national leader in teaching and research in our field. WGSS courses have impacted tens of thousands of students over the years, and the department has been an anchor for feminist thinking and action at Ohio State and beyond.
This rich history has much to offer for our present moment, as we confront new challenges. Fifty years of feminist research about women, gender and sexuality leaves us in a powerful position to contend with backlash, to re-center our commitments, and to imagine the future differently. As always, I remain grateful to the strong WGSS community for all it enables. Our robust curriculum seems needed now more than ever.
To commemorate the last half-century, and to dream together about what our next 50 years might look like, we’re planning two days of festivities on Sept. 19-20. I invite you all back to Columbus as we convene for alumni panels, performances, feminist mural making and a dinner reception and dance party. I hope to see many of you there for some feminist fun!
As we look toward our next decade at Ohio State, the department continues to grow. Our undergraduate program remains robust, with a WGSS major alongside minors in WGSS, LGBTQ+ studies, and Women, Gender and Public Policy. Our new Center for Feminist Research, Education, and Engagement (FREE Center) entered its second year, and is now established as a hub for feminist work across the university.
We were thrilled to welcome three new faculty colleagues this year: Sierra Austin-King, LaVelle Ridley and Octavian Robinson. Professor Austin-King, an alum of our department who taught as a lecturer previously, joined us in the new role of assistant professor of teaching. In addition to her extensive pedagogical experience and her leadership in the central Ohio community, she is a specialist in Black feminist thought. Professor Ridley joined the department as assistant professor, and her work is at the intersection of queer and transgender studies, Black feminisms and literary and cultural studies of racialized gender and sexuality. She joined us after completing a University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship. Professor Robinson joined the department as associate professor. A specialist in critical Deaf/disability studies and a theorist of Crip Linguistics, Professor Robinson also serves as the director of the Center for ASL and Deaf Equity.
This year, we recognized the extraordinary career of Professor Cynthia Burack, who retired after 26 years in the department. An expert in feminist political theory, Professor Burack is the award-winning author of seven books. In her time in the department, Professor Burack taught 27 different courses and played a vital role in the careers and lives of her many students.
As you’ll see in the pages that follow, there are many faculty accomplishments to celebrate. I especially want to congratulate Lyn Tjon Soei Len, who was tenured and promoted to associate professor. In recognition of her stellar record of research, teaching and service, Professor Tjon Soei Len was selected for the Early Career Faculty Excellence Award by the College of Arts and Sciences. Congratulations also to Dionne Lee, assistant professor of WGSS and art, who was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for next year.
The department was fortunate to welcome many new staff members to the WGSS community: Ali Alkhalifa, Coty Carroll, Laurel Clarkson, Meg Downing and Jackie McCuskey. From advising, to curriculum and scheduling, to financial operations, our fabulous staff ensures that the department continues to be a place where our students thrive. We are delighted to work with this wonderful team!
Our graduate students, as ever, continue to excel. Warmest congratulations to the department’s newest PhD graduates: Robin Cremins, Kayley DeLong, and Jessica Tjiu. We are also thrilled to recognize our newest MA graduates: Ashley Davis, Emoni Harmon and Maya Wadhwa. We wish all the best to this amazing cohort of scholars as they make their mark on the world!
Our extraordinary undergraduates continue to inspire. This year, we launched a new one-credit research course for students to take alongside the WGSS senior capstone seminar. Students in the research class, which was co-taught by Professors Jian Neo Chen and Shannon Winnubst, explored the many possibilities for interdisciplinary feminist research and developed substantial research projects of their own. They showcased the results in what we hope will be our first annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in April, and you will see more details about their projects in the pages that follow.
There is much to celebrate beyond the Columbus campus as well. This year, the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project (OPEEP) launched a newly accredited embedded degree program in WGSS for incarcerated students at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. Directed by Professors Mary Thomas (WGSS) and Tiyi Morris (AAAS), OPEEP is doing pathbreaking work in forging new prison-to-college pathways. We are especially proud that the program at the Ohio Reformatory for Women is the first in the country to offer a BA degree in WGSS. A very warm welcome to the new WGSS majors at ORW!
This year, as it has for the past 50 years, our work in WGSS continues to ask and answer the most pressing questions of our time. Our students and alumni often lead the way, and as we plan for the 50th anniversary festivities, I am continually humbled to learn of the extraordinary feminist work that WGSS graduates are doing in the world. Know that the department has your back, now and always. I hope many of you will join us in Columbus this September, and indeed at any time. We hope to see you back in WGSS at Ohio State!
– Mytheli Sreenivas
Chair and Designated Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
